For Rudy Owens and family, a long road trip to big league debut

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SEATTLE — In the midst of a mostly dreary season that’s been sprinkled with positives — George Springer’s lightning bat speed, Dallas Keuchel’s groundball wizardry, Collin McHugh’s ability to pitch even better than he writes, Dexter Fowler’s eye at the plate, Jose Altuve’s brilliance — Rudy Owens’ unabashed appreciation for his call-up, just the experience of finally getting the news, could rank high at the end of the Astros’ 2014.

“It’s just kind of everything that I’ve been working for my entire life,” Owens said. “Ever since I was a kid I remembered saying, ‘I’m going to be a professional baseball player,’ and today was the day. There’s that, just everything my family’s gone through, staying behind my back. Even when I’ve struggled, they’ve been there to calm me down and keep me levelheaded and remind me of what my goal is.”

Owens, 26, was promoted from Class AAA Oklahoma City for his major league debut Friday in Seattle, just for one game before going back down. The Astros lost their fourth straight, 6-1 to the Mariners, and Owens allowed five of the runs.

“People yelling at me in the bullpen, you never hear that much in three-A,” Owens said.

What stood out most, though, was Owens’ seven-minute post-game meeting with reporters, quite possibly the longest post-game session an Astros starting pitcher will give all season. Darin Downs told Owens to put on his Tiger shirt — which was exactly as it sounds, a shirt with a big Tiger on it — and Owens obliged before diving in.

Owens was controlled, but the joy of the journey he took to finally get to the majors after 134 minor league games in eight seasons, from 2007-14, was palpable.

His mother, Kathie, and his father, Brian, made the trip from his home state of Arizona to Seattle. So too did brothers and little nephews, whom Owens hadn’t seen since spring.

Owens got the news Wednesday he would be on his way to big leagues. He caught a flight from New Orleans, arrived Thursday evening and watched that night’s game, the series opener, at a restaurant.

“I knew it was going to come, I put in all the hard work, I just needed to get a lucky break,” said Owens, who was hampered by a foot injury last year. “It’s been a long time coming. It’s been a frustrating road to say the least, but I’m happy, I mean, the way things worked out.

“It really didn’t sink until I actually called my dad,” he continued. “It’s always a battle before or after starts, who I’m going to call, because my mom, she’s always like, ‘You never call me, what’s going on?’ So I was battling like, who do I call first? So I called my dad, and I knew he’d be next to her.”

Owens played it cool initially, asking his father what he was doing.

“It was something so random — and inside me I wanted to tell him, but he was like telling me this random thing,” Owens said. “I was like, well, ‘What are you doing tomorrow? You guys should probably head up to Seattle cause I’m pitching on Friday.’ And he’s like ‘What? Are you kidding me?’ and he just started cracking up. He was laughing, but I knew he was trying to hide the fact that he was crying, and I could barely spit it out without crying.

“It was very emotional. And my mom, she’s in the background, she’s like, ‘What’s going on?’ My dad didn’t put her on speaker, so I mean she’s trying to live through his emotions, she’s like, ‘What the heck’s going on?’”

With seemingly no hint of irony, Owens said, “I remember it like it was yesterday.” It was two days prior.

But the best part may be how be Owens’ family made it to Seattle. He didn’t buy them plane tickets — they didn’t want him to.

“‘Oh no, we’re renting a van and we’re going to come out there,’” Owens said of what he was told. “I was like, ‘It’s 24 hours (to drive from Arizona). And do you know that you have to turn around and do this right again after the game, or whenever you guys are leaving?’ And they were fine with it. So it was good to see everybody. If they didn’t drive, I wouldn’t have been able to see all the nephews and stuff, so it was good to see everyone.”

The van carried a family on a mission. Owens said the caravan came in “one of the big Mormon vans, like the nine-seaters.”